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February 29, 2004
First Sunday in Lent
Leading The Way
Luke 4:1-13
If this morning's scripture lesson sounds familiar to you, maybe it's because the story of Jesus and the temptation in the wilderness is always the Gospel lesson for the First Sunday in Lent. We begin with this story for several reasons. Jesus' forty days equal the forty days of Lent; for him, it was a time of fasting and preparation, just as Lent's forty days are for us to be prepared for Holy Week, for the crucifixion, and finally, Easter.
For Luke, the story plays a different function. Before the story of Jesus in the wilderness, Luke has set up who Jesus is. Luke has stated over and over again that Jesus is the son of God—
the angel Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive and bear a son, "the Son of the Most High" (Luke 1.32);
the angels appeared to the shepherds at Jesus' birth, declaring him the Messiah, the Lord (2.11);
there was the episode with the 12 year old Jesus in the Temple, holding his own with the authorities there;
at his baptism, a voice from heaven said, "You are my Son, the beloved" (3.22);
and finally, Luke has just concluded a genealogy that concludes with the designation, "son of God" (3.38).
In the story of Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness, listeners get a chance to see this Son of God in action. What does it mean that Jesus is the son of God? What kind of Messiah is Jesus?
Luke says that Jesus, after his baptism, was led by the Spirit in the wilderness. "…For forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished." (4.2) Then, at the end of Jesus' time in the wilderness, the devil tests him three more times.
"If you are the Son of God," taunts the devil, "command this stone to become a loaf of bread." (4.3)
The first temptation is quite straightforward. Jesus is hungry—he's beyond hungry. He needs food. Why not use the power that he has to take care of himself, to take one of the stones that surround him and turn it into a loaf of bread? And really, there is some historical precedence for this. After all, when Israel was in the wilderness for forty years, God provided manna for them to eat. Why shouldn't Jesus have some bread, too?
But Jesus doesn't go for it. He tells the devil, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'" (4.4) With this answer, the first thing we learn about Jesus, the Son of God is, Jesus doesn't use his power only for his own self-interest. Jesus depends upon God to sustain him and provide what he needs.
Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been give over to me, and I will give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." (4.5-7)
I find the second temptation interesting. First, I want to know how it is that the devil came to have authority over the kingdoms of the world. After all, wouldn't that be God's to give? And wouldn't God certainly give it to his son? When the devil offers Jesus the glory and authority of the world, I can't help but wonder if what he is offering is a very different kind of glory and authority from the glory and authority that God possesses. The difference, I suspect, is that for the devil, and for the world, glory and authority is about personal gain, the consolidation of power, about putting the desires of the individual over the needs of the community.
That isn't the kind of glory and authority that the Son of God is looking for. Jesus answered the devil, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" (4.8) Jesus knows that the only authority in the world, the only power truly worth having, ultimately lies with God. And that kind of authority and power can only be attained through service.
Finally, the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" (4.9-11)
The devil thinks he's gotten it figured out this time. He thinks he's being clever. So far, Jesus has refuted every temptation by quoting scripture in response. So, the devil presents his last test in the form of scripture, urging Jesus to have God make good on the promises found there.
And again, Jesus refuses. "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" (4.12) It isn't about testing the promises of God, Jesus insists, it is about trusting them.
All three of the temptations, at their core, are about faithfulness. As the Son of Man, Jesus is not about flashy shows of power, producing signs and wonders to prove who he is. No, this Son of God proves who he is by being faithful to God. His faithfulness is the source of his power.
Recognizing that Jesus would not be swayed, the devil departed from Jesus—waiting until an opportune time. Jesus survived the time of testing, he has remained true to his identity. Filled with the power of the Spirit, Jesus goes out and begins his ministry in earnest.
The story is recounted every year, not just because of the parallels with the forty days of Lent and the time of fasting. The elements of temptation and testing in the story are offered to us as encouragement. Jesus faced temptation and made it through, and so can we. The story of the temptation becomes a sort of primer on Christian ethics.
Sometimes that works. We face decisions every day of our lives, and sometimes the scenarios are clearly marked between right and wrong, black and white. But often the moral and ethical decisions we face are more likely come in innumerable shades of gray.
Consider these scenarios:
- The Iowa Legislature, short on funds and long on needs, considers expanding gambling licenses to provide 'easy money' and solve our fiscal problems.
- Workers, like the nurses at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics' Organ Transplant Unit, who have to choose between doing the right thing and keeping their own job.
- Parents caught between putting in longer hours to get the promotion at work and spending time with spouse and children.
How is the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness supposed to help us negotiate our way through situations like these?
The answers may not be clear-cut, but the temptations that Jesus faced are at the heart of decisions we make every day:
the temptation to forget who we are—claimed by God, beloved of God
to use one's power and influence for personal gain,
to be successful rather than faithful,
to be dazzled by the riches the world offers
to make compromises when we are called to stand firm,
to avoid the path of sacrifice and suffering.[1]
New Testament scholar Alan Culpepper writes, "Christian ethics do not come prepackaged. The call is not to adherence to a list of rules and regulations but to faithfulness to the call and purposes of God."[2]
I'd like to believe that when Jesus left the wilderness he didn't have all the answers, but he had a firm foundation of how to live, and how to serve God.
This is the kind of Messiah that God sends us. And this is the way we, too, should live: By remaining faithful to who God is and who God called us to be, and by trusting in God's word and God's promises, not the promises of the world.
Amen.
1 From Alan Culpepper's reflections on Luke 4:1-13 in the New Interpreter's Bible, Volume IX, p. 101 go back
2 Ibid. go back
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Church of Cedar Rapids
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Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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